Former Hamas hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel led a group of protesters in Pretoria, South Africa on Monday to confront the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over its inaction regarding captives held by Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza.
They were joined on the “Bring the Hostages Home” Solidarity Bus Ride to the South African capital by the South African Zionist Federation, members of civil society, faith leaders and political representatives.
“We are here at the Red Cross offices in Tshwane to demand that the Red Cross facilitate the unconditional release of the 50 hostages. They have endured over 682 days of hell. Hamas must unconditionally release its hostages for there to be peace,” said Norman Fana Mkhonza, representing Reverend Kenneth Meshoe and the African Christian Democratic Party.
The Siegels provided powerful testimony about the couple’s abduction from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, and their subsequent captivity in Gaza. Aviva Siegel, 64, a dual South African-Israeli national, was released after 51 days, while Keith Siegel, 66, a dual U.S.–Israeli national, remained in captivity for an additional 433 days until he was finally released on Feb. 1.
The South African Zionist Federation and its partners delivered a memorandum to the ICRC demanding that it fulfill its mandate under the Geneva Conventions: to secure access to the hostages, verify their conditions, provide urgent medical assistance, restore family contact and insist on humane treatment.
In its statement, the South African Zionist Federation emphasized that the ICRC had failed in this mandate, having not assisted, seen or provided medical care to a single hostage.
“This is about human lives. Innocent people were stolen from their families and are being kept in unimaginable conditions. Aviva knows their suffering because she has lived it. Today, South Africans stood with her to say: the world must not forget, and action must be taken now,” said South African Zionist Federation National Chairman Craig Pantanowitz.
The federation called on the ruling African National Congress party to use its influence to facilitate the unconditional release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive.
